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When the Southern Rail Commission (SRC) hired Transportation for America to help restore passenger rail service to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina hit, there were no federal programs to make it possible The country’s rail programs, policies, and funding streams were not well calibrated to help expand service on the coast, so they set out to solve the first problem—restore passenger rail on the Gulf Coast—by creating a new, national rail program for the entire country.

Beginning in 2013, T4America led a successful multi-year effort to build new champions for the issue and enshrine a new rail program in the federal transportation law in 2015 for the first time. At a time when Congress was consolidating and shrinking the federal transportation program, T4America helped create two brand-new rail programs. These programs have helped support the 2025 launch of the Gulf Coast’s long-awaited Mardi Gras service, but they are also helping to support the expansion of passenger rail around the country. And T4America’s continued advocacy led to the creation of two more new rail programs in the 2021 infrastructure law.

This expansive feature tells the full story of how Transportation for America partnered with the Southern Rail Commission and members of Congress to bring passenger rail back to the Gulf Coast.